Selective call radio receivers such as pagers are used to alert a user of a message. Such devices generally incorporate a radio receiver capable of producing an alerting signal which may be detected by the user. Some pagers provide the additional feature of a message visually displayed on a screen.
The visually displayed message enables the user to read the message immediately or at a later time. Conventional operation allows the user to either save or delete an entire message. The user does not have the option of selecting segments of messages to be saved.
By enabling the user to modify incoming messages, unnecessary information could be eliminated and the desired information saved for future reference. This would make more efficient use of the pager's memory, allowing only the pertinent information to be saved.
Another benefit of eliminating unnecessary information would be the time savings. Conventionally, to retrieve a specific piece of information, the entire message would have to be read. Modifying the message would prevent the user from scrolling through a message unnecessarily while awaiting the desired information.
In addition, the user has not been able to input information into the pager regardless of whether a message has been received. However, the user may want to create a personalized message and enter the message directly into the pager's memory for future reference.
Thus, what is needed is a method of displaying a key pad arrangement on a selective call receiver for modifying a received message and adding new information.